Nvidia's valuation hits a 14-year low: retail investors buy in record numbers, while Wall Street remains divided.

November 13: After Jensen Huang's resignation, Nvidia's stock price fell more than 14% intraday on Thursday to $148.80, ultimately closing down 4.34% at $166.19, about 32% below its October 6 high. Nvidia's forward price-to-earnings ratio has dropped to about 12 times, the lowest since 2012. Nvidia confirmed that Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will also serve as interim CEO, and the board will search for a formal successor both internally and externally.

Retail investors bought a record amount, and Tom Lee advised buying the dip. Vanda Research data showed that within 30 minutes after the Thursday open, retail investors net bought $111 million of Nvidia stock, a record for the stock in the first half hour after the open. Fidelity platform data showed that as of noon Eastern Time on Thursday, customers had submitted 394,818 buy orders and 80,088 sell orders, with buy orders nearly 5 times the number of sell orders. Tom Lee, chairman of Ethereum treasury company Bitmine, believes the pullback offers a buying opportunity; Paul Meeks of Freedom Capital Markets also believes current valuations are already low.

Bullish institutions focus on orders, while cautious parties cut valuations. Piper Sandler maintained its overweight rating and $300 target price, believing that Nvidia's 2027 orders are sold out and 2028 is basically fully booked, with discussions with customers now focused on business in 2029 and beyond. Meanwhile, Bernstein downgraded the rating from "outperform" to "market perform" and cut the target price from $400 to $200. Goldman Sachs maintained its buy rating and earnings per share forecasts unchanged, but to reflect uncertainty over the management transition, it lowered its valuation multiple from 30 times to 22 times and cut its target price from $300 to $220.

The main disagreement among institutions is that existing orders can support near-term performance, but whether the new management can continue the technology roadmap and industrial financing arrangements remains to be seen. JPMorgan believes the interim team may be able to advance the established product roadmap in the short term, while the test in two to three years will be whether it can identify the next technology inflection point in accelerated computing. UBS warned that even if the new management continues financing support for AI customers, there may be a pause during the handover period, putting pressure on companies that rely on external financing.

Nvidia will report third-quarter results for fiscal year 2027 after the U.S. market close on November 17 Eastern Time (early morning Beijing time on November 18). The company's revenue in the previous quarter was about $96.2 billion, up 106% year over year, including data center revenue of about $89 billion, up 117% year over year; its previous third-quarter revenue guidance was about $108 billion. In addition to results and guidance, the market will also focus on the interim management's explanation of product delivery and subsequent strategy.